Conventional Weapons
by mustangisinflames
Summary: Modern day-ish AU: Sanji dreams of something more, but becoming part of a rebellion wasn't what he'd had in mind. Two central pairings: ZoSan and MarcoAce. Rated M for violence, language and adult situations Multi-chapter


**AN: A very happy (and very belated) birthday to myladyday. This is my present to you~**

* * *

In the darkness of the room, brown eyes flickered open. He was aware of the other presence in his bed that belonged to the man beside him. His gaze traced over familiar features and the lines of cheekbones, over dark flared out lashes and messy blond hair, the sides shaved completely away. He traveled a little further down, eying the inked cross with the crescent running through it in what he knew was various shades of purples, even if it was too dark to see it now.

Slowly he sat up, sliding the warmth of the other man's arm from around his waist and getting out of bed. He stretched, back clicking and shoulders tensing and loosening as he worked the lethargy out of them from the previous night's activities. His body still hummed slightly from what could only be described as great sex and his skin came up in goosebumps as the coolness of the air finally got to him after the heat of the sheets. He bent down to inspect the floor closer, searching in the dim light for something to cover his nakedness and grabbed a pair of boxers from off the cold ground uncaring of whether they were his or not. Pulling them on roughly, he yawned then ran his hands through his scruffy mess of black hair, working out the knots of the long tangled strands with winces and soft curses. He stumbled around a little more, blinking sleep from his eyes as he snatched blindly below him until his fingers snagged on some material and he grinned as he pulled up a pair of knee length shorts and slipped them on.

"Mmm... Ace?" A voice, soft and slurred from slumber, rumbled from the bed followed shortly by the creaking of springs and rustling of sheets. In the dim light, Ace could make out the other sitting up lopsidedly on the mattress.

"Got a meeting with Zoro," Ace said quietly, reassuringly, "Go back to sleep, Marco."

The blond man muffled a yawn, "When're you gonna be back?"

"I don't know. He didn't say."

"Hm... Have fun..." Marco mumbled and Ace smiled fondly as the other lay back down, curling into the bed's warmth.

Padding barefoot to the door, Ace grabbed his boots and let himself out so as not to disturb the other anymore than he had to. The metal door clicked shut and he leaned against the cold concrete wall with one hand for support as he wriggled his feet into his shoes and pulled the velcro straps tight to his lower shins.

The air out here was warmer, made possible by the thick black pipes running along the walls as the hot running water flowed through them and emanated heat. Staring blankly at his bare chest for a moment, Ace vaguely recalled his shirt being thrown carelessly on the floor somewhere in the common room last night before they'd moved to the bed. Eh... Zoro had probably found it by now and he could go grab it from him.

He set off down the corridor, passing other thick metal doors with the fluorescent lights above thrumming and casting everything a gentle but still sickly shade of yellow. The soles of his boots crunched on small, loose pieces of concrete as he walked, the cracking sound almost too loud and making him even more aware that he was pretty much the only one up at this time. Heck, he didn't even know that there was a six in the morning until Zoro told him to be up for that time. Mentally, he was in awe of his friend- it sure took some willpower to be up this early and not want to crawl back into bed and sleep for the next five hours. Ace yawned again as he reached the end of the corridor, rubbing furiously at his eyes with one hand as he opened the grey and black door with the letters CR spray painted on in a stark white with the other.

He called out quietly, "Yo, Zoro... You in here?"

The common room was enormous- previously a former control centre for the gates and pipes in the system- and had been fully converted into a comfortable enough living space. There were still iconic signifiers of the room's previous use what with the indents in the floor where panels were once fitted and the thin black insulated cords from long cut off electrical systems snaked their way up into the concrete ceiling. Though the walls were painted a pastel blue, the coldness and hardness of them remained as a constant reminder that this was no real home, this wasn't a house. But it sufficed and, after these years down here, he'd grown to rather like the place in some sense. There was a table that just about seated the eleven of them to the right side near the cut in the wall that opened up into a small kitchen, and to his left was a large well worn sofa and two armchairs with faded cushions. There was no tv, but Ace had gone so long without it that he no longer missed it. Besides, the kind of life he was leading nowadays didn't really call on needing a tv- a radio system was more more effective and informative.

Footsteps from the kitchen alerted him to another's presence and he turned to see Zoro walk out of the little offside room. The common room had no windows but the lights were of a better quality so the room was just as well lit and gleamed off the other man's slightly damp exposed skin- a shower, Ace figured. Zoro was a bulky guy with tanned skin, broad shoulders and chest with a deep set ragged scar running down his front. His face was handsome but stern and sharply cut with a strong chin and prominent cheekbones, and his dark eyebrows were almost always pulled down in a permanent scowl. His hair was a bold shade of green which Ace had once thought was too bizarre to be a natural colour, but he was used to it now and, in all honesty, it suited the man. He had flint grey eyes that seemed old for such a youthful face and those, applied with his scowl, gave the impression that the twenty year old was much older than he actually was. Ace moved with him, crossing the room and sitting opposite at the table, trying not to look as Zoro placed a bottle on the table.

"You're late," Zoro grumbled simply. Blunt and short and straight to the point as he took a swig from the open bottle. He offered it out and Ace declined with a flick of his hand and a small smile, a pinch in his gut at the smell of the alcohol that left him feeling slightly sad. He didn't dwell on it though and shrugged,

"Eh, I'm not used to being up this early."

Zoro swallowed another mouthful of drink and smirked, "Maybe if you weren't so busy fucking, you might have been up on time."

Ace laughed, "You heard us, huh?"

"Ace, everyone heard you." Zoro said, rolling his eyes.

The dark haired man shrugged nonchalantly, "What can I say? I'm a loudmouth."

"Too fucking right you are..." The other muttered, but his mouth was turned up at the corner in an amused smile as he shifted to dump a piece of coloured fabric on the tabletop which Ace hadn't realised he'd been carrying.

"Hey, you found it!" He grinned as he unfolded it and pulled the shirt over his shoulders, "Thanks man," It was quiet a moment as he patted and smoothed out the creases, then he leaned forward with his elbows on the table and regarded the man before him, "So, what did you wake me up for?"

Zoro's fingers played with the neck of the bottle in his hand, "We've got a job to do."

Ace's face lit up, "Pyrotechnics?" He asked, the word hopeful and gushing out of his mouth. Zoro leaned back into his chair and folded his arms, the muscles flexing and the three gold earrings with their dangling bars chiming as his head moved.

"Yup. The drug dispensary on Oda Avenue, North side of the city. I'm above, you're below. I torch the place and you rig it up, the moment I'm out and at the safety point you detonate it," Zoro made an explosive sound with his mouth, "Whole place goes up in flames."

Ace would be lying if he said the prospect of burning the place didn't excite him. He was eager, could feel it in his veins. He couldn't wait to blow it up, see the flames, feel the scorching heat and the way it would singe his hair and try to consume him, devour him like it would everything else. Zoro chuckled at his expression, "Woah, calm down. We gotta get kitted up first, you know." He drank deeply from the bottle, tipping his head back to swallow the last of it before bringing it back down to the table with a hollow clunk.

"What time are we doing this?" Ace asked.

"We've gotta be at the checkpoint in three hours, so meet me back here by then. Franky'll have all the equipment ready by then."

"Three hours from now, got it."

"Yeah, you might wanna use that time to have a shower, you smell like shit."

Ace waggled his eyebrows, "Nah, that's just the smell of a night well spent."

Zoro wrinkled his nose but laughed, "Shaddup, I don't wanna know the details."

"You sure? I mean, because Marco _completely_ threw me out. He was so- _OW_!" He broke off his teasing tangent when Zoro's boot covered foot kicked him in the shin playfully, but it was still pretty hard, "Ah, what the fuck, Zoro?"

"I don't wanna know the details, jeez. Now go and get yourself cleaned up, if you're late then I'm leaving you behind."

They both stood up from the table, Zoro grabbing the bottle as he shoved his chair back under with his foot, "See you in a bit, Ace." He said, walking back to the kitchen to dispose of the bottle and, no doubt, grab another one. Ace sighed,

"See ya, Zoro."

* * *

Back in their room, Marco was now awake and sitting up in bed as he rubbed his fingers over the stubble on his chin and jaw with a scritching sound. His hair was a tousled mess and his blue eyes were watching blearily in the now lit bedroom as Ace pulled the strap of his hunting knife firmly around his thigh.

The black haired man was now clad in black slacks with thick knee pads secured tight and bottoms tucked into his boots snugly. His t-shirt was dark and cut off at the shoulders revealing a tattoo down his muscled left bicep that spelt out ASCE with the S crossed out neatly. Below that, on his elbow, was a scuffed orange elbow pad and, on both arms, were a thick set of sweat bands and both hands clad with black and grey fingerless gloves. Around his neck was a faded red neckscarf that had seen better days and his wild dark hair was pulled back roughly into a bobble with wisps of it still escaping. He was tucking a gun into the holster attached to his belt at his left hip when Marco spoke up.

"Who're you going with, yoi?"

Ace looked up at him and stood up straight, giving Marco a very much welcome sight of fabric clinging to a toned body. He smiled warmly, his freckles moving up with his cheeks at the movement, "Zoro."

"How long are you gonna be?"

"A few hours, I'm not sure." He shrugged, "Shouldn't be too long though." He came and sat down on the edge of the bed beside the blond with a sly smile, "What? Are you gonna miss me?"

Marco tilted his head up to look at him, "Nah, it'll be nice and quiet without your mouth going all the time. Why would I miss you? You're like a constant noise."

Ace made an indignant noise and swatted the blond who laughed, "Shut up! I hate you!"

Marco leaned up and pressed his lips to the corner of the dark haired man's mouth, "No you don't." He found himself caught in a full kiss as Ace turned his head and pressed them together for a moment before he pulled away.

"Ew, you taste gross."

Marco smirked, "S' just morning breath."

"And it's still gross. Go and clean up."

"Make me..." The blond whispered and Ace grinned wickedly.

"Oh, I'd make you alright but I gotta go..."

Marco made a noise in the back of his throat as the other kissed his forehead. As much as he wanted to say it, he couldn't tell Ace to stay here. They were all equally important in this war and he couldn't afford to be that selfish. If he did, he'd be putting more lives at stake. Instead he wrapped his arms around the slim waist and nuzzled into his neck, "Kick some ass."

"You know I will."

"And don't do anything stupid."

Ace looked offended, "When do I _ever_ do anything stupi-"

"_Ace_..."

"Okay... But I can't make any promises."

Marco moved his head away from Ace's neck and shot him a warning look, "Just come back in one piece."

"Okay, okay..." Ace huffed and wriggled away knowing that if he stayed there any longer he wouldn't be leaving the bed anytime today, "Be back in one piece. One piece..." He pulled the door open, "Or two or three..."

"Ace!" Marco barked and the other man cackled before slamming the door shut after him leaving Marco to lie back on the bed with an annoyed but amused sigh, "Idiot."

* * *

Zoro was waiting for him in the common room, stood at the large table which had three boxes, colourful wiring and a small remote with two buttons on it- the bomb, he assumed. Next to Zoro stood Franky, another bulky man who was packed out with more mechanical substitutes than he was muscle. He had a shock of blue hair which was always up in a ridiculous, but somehow suited him, quiff and had a strange habit of wearing speedos and Hawaiian shirts with sunglasses no matter what. He smiled as Ace approched and gestured to the equipment on the table before handing him a map layout of the old underground networks, "You know how to rig it- it's just like the ones before except I added some extra explosives so it should go off with a _suuuper_ bang!" He threw Ace a thumbs up, the blue star tattoo, which he homed on both of his thick set wrists, flashing up at him. He smiled and gathered it up off the table whilst Franky helped to attach it to his belt.

"You have ten minutes after rigging it to run and get through a maintenance door. Don't worry, you'll see it- Usopp went and painted it bright red last week," Zoro said and Ace looked at him and nodded, passing Franky another part of the bomb to attach.

Zoro was clad in the same sort of clothes, jet black from neck to feet with a black beanie covering his hair. Being green headed he'd stand out a mile off to the people looking for him and there were always people looking for him- for all of them. He'd removed his earrings and around his neck was a deep rich green scarf. Strapped to his back was a single long black cylinder at an angle and on his right hip was a set of some small, hand held explosives. His face was serious, "You'll then follow the steps up, that will bring you up onto Merry Road. To the exact left of you there'll be a block of apartments with a metal staircase running up the side. You'll climb up there and meet us at the top."

"Us?" Ace asked.

Zoro nodded once, sharply, "Law will be up there too. He's going to be our eyes during the whole thing, he'll be the one to alert us to any of the authorities."

"What do I do if I'm seen?" Ace asked.

Zoro stiffened, "That... That won't happen."

"But what if it does?"

"Then you run and try and shake them. We'll help if we can..."

Ace swallowed dryly, both anxiety and excitement writhing in his gut and making him feel nauseous as the last box was clipped on. He felt the remote being shoved into his hand followed by a small hand held radio, "There you go, all set!" Franky beamed, his metal nose glinting. Ace smiled uncertainly back as he tried to calm his nerves. He'd done this before. It'd be okay.

"You ready?" Zoro asked gruffly and Ace nodded, "Good," He clicked the button on his own radio, "Law, we're ready."

"I'm in position, Zoro-ya. See you soon." Law's voice, crackly but still just about clear coming through.

"Let's go, Ace. Listen out for Law." Zoro said firmly.

"Will do," Ace confirmed, excitement finally winning over his emotions and he grinned, clutching the remote, map and radio a little more firmly in his hand, "See you soon."

They parted ways, Ace heading down for the ladder that led down into the underground whilst Zoro made for the surface. Franky's voice called after them,

"Have a _suuuuper _ trip, guys!"


End file.
